Such an initiative that the diamond mining company and its partners are supporting is the Textile Accelerator Programme whereby a number of local tailors are empowered on how to access capital amongst other benefits.
The company’s Corporate Affairs Manager, Socio Economic Development, Patrick Mokwele, explained that the scheme is part of their commitment to empower citizens and make life easier for the host communities and the nation at large. So far 34 beneficiaries have been awarded orders to produce personal protective (PPEs) clothing worth P20.4 million.
“To date the programme has increased capacity, compliance to quality standards and facilitated access to funding institutions and other PPEs market in mining and other sectors of the economy for SMMEs,” he revealed. The programme has also expanded to other markets including producing school uniforms and partnering with other mining houses to capacitate tailors to produce PPEs. Earlier this year, one of the beneficiaries of Programme, MJT Mabogo, which is a business based in Boteti, was awarded a Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOBS) certification on General Protective Clothing.
The promoter, Modester Joyce Tekanyo, described this milestone achievement as a gateway for her to participate in the greater global textile markets. In 2023, Debswana acquired nine sewing machines to help Phonda Fashions based in Toromoja village to expand after enrolling in the programme.
The Textile Accelerator Programme was born out of a partnership between Tokafala Enterprise Development Programme, Local Enterprise Authority and BOBS to empower SMMEs in the textile sector in production of, amongst other garments, PPEs, uniforms and other textile and apparel products. Its objective is to build capacity amongst local SMMEs to be able to participate in various private and public sector supply chains.
Key to the continued success of the programme is to capacitate the beneficiaries on corporate governance structures, empowering tailors on supervision and ensuring functionality of subcommittees (logistics, quality control systems, disciplinary and finance) as well as setting up the project communication structure.
